


Up is Down

by Siriusfanatic



Series: At World's End [5]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 10:01:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/760093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siriusfanatic/pseuds/Siriusfanatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrift on the sea of lost souls, tensions rise among the Pearl's crew. Barbossa and Elizabeth find themselves playing a pair of unlikely lovers in order to win the attentions of their respective love interests, and Will makes some more regretable decisions as Jack and Barbossa begin to understand that they still have something between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up is Down

Jack wasn't sure dawn would ever come; but neither was he eager for it's arrival. When he had been trapped upon his landlocked ship, the sun never set at all and the days bled into each other unendingly. The nightmare of it still haunted him, and he found that even though he felt perpetually exhausted he couldn't sleep.  
Beside him Will tossed and turned, asleep but certainly not resting. Jack was worried that his encounter with his old shipmate had rattled him, but Will seemed to recover quickly enough. He was just glad to have stopped it before it escalated. Jack cursed himself for thinking, even for a moment, that Hector could be trusted. He huddled down beside Will in the bed, wrapping his arms around him and keeping him close, kissing the naked skin of his neck and shoulders. This calmed the other man and after a time he was quiet again.  
In Jack's mind, the man in his arms slipped seamlessly from Will to Bill without him noticing. He cared so much for the both of them that they had almost fused into the same being. He couldn't help but see both men as brave but hopeless victims of his own misdeeds. Bootstrap had gone to the depths and now labored under the cruel heel of Jones, all for loving him. And Will had come to his cursed place and given up any hope of a normal life. Jack felt his loyalty was owed.  
But a quiet little voice in the back of his mind had begun to pester him. Quite literally in fact. Jack was just about to doze off again, his head on Will's shoulder, when his own small voice hissed at him in the dark; "Don't you think this is a bit odd?"  
He opened and eye and peered up to find a tiny version of himself standing on his shoulder, looking at him expectantly. "What is?" he asked.  
The miniature Jack nodded his head towards William. "This pretty little picture here. Seems a bit...convenient, if you ask me."  
"Well, I don't recall asking you." Jack muttered, closing his eyes and rolling over. As he did the little Jack vanished and reappeared as himself in proper size, lying next to him beneath the sheets. Sparrow gave a little yelp of surprise, finding himself trapped between Will and another Jack.  
"True or false?" The other him began, "The last time you saw dear William here, he was locked with you and one disgraced Commodore Norrington in mortal combat for the possession of the chest of Davey Jones?"  
"True,"  
"And did he, or did he not, turn his sword upon you?"  
"That remains debatable..." He swatted at the other him's hand when he casually lifted the sheets to have a look at Will's naked body. "Tense situations like that can cause a breakdown in communications...besides...not as if I haven't been at the end of that sword before." He smirked a little, but the other Jack did not look amused. "Aye, but that was before he knew you. Before he claimed to love you."  
"Claimed?"  
"What about the girl? What about Elizabeth?"  
Jack's brow furrowed sitting up in bed as his mirror image did the same. "Bad blood's passed between them, it seems. And you know why." The other him explained; "You tempted him, now he's gone astray."  
"Well I'd hardly put it like that."  
"He doesn't belong with you, Jackie. You'll only lead him down a bad road. Just like Bootstrap." Jack held his head, looking miserable. "That's particularly unkind of you," he muttered. His other self moved to lay on the opposite side of William. "What about the compass, Jack?"  
"What about it?"  
"You know."  
In the dark Jack looked down at the jade ring that still adorned his finger and had never left that spot in all this time. "You can't possibly mean him?" he muttered. The other Jack rolled his shoulders. "The needle never lies, Jackie. It never lies. You saw the way he looked at you."  
Jack closed his eyes and shook his head hard, willing the hallucination away. "Leave me alone! I can make my own decisions. Besides, I love William..."  
"Ah, but do you love him?" Asked the other Jack, leaning over Will's sleeping form before waving a hand across his face and transforming it to that of Bootstraps as he had been years ago aboard the Pearl. "Or are you trying to regain what you lost?"  
"No!" Jack gasped, so loudly that he found himself suddenly alone again and Will sat up worriedly. "What's wrong?" he asked, putting his arms around the shivering pirate. Jack looked closely into his face, making sure it was really him. "Nothing...nightmare."  
Will leaned in and stole a kiss from him, nuzzling him. "Well you're here now. Not to worry," He started to pull Jack down, but Sparrow stopped him. "William, what happened between you and Elizabeth?"  
The blacksmith frowned, staring at the sheets. "I don't want to talk about it, Jack." Sparrow leaned back on his hands, smiling easily and trying to disarm him; "Women...they can be vexing little creatures can't they? Miss Swann is no exception. She's an extraordinary woman."  
"She left you to die."  
"Aye, and I haven't forgotten it." he nodded. "But she did it to save you, as much as herself." He looked at Will carefully in the dark, "She did what I wasn't brave enough to do."  
Will's face twisted into a pained scowl for a moment before he turned upon Sparrow, climbing into his lap and kissing him hard. Jack gasped, and tried to free himself. "Now, now, none of that! We have to talk!"  
"I don't want to talk." Will replied, grinding himself nakedly against the other man who moaned in response before kissing and feeling his way down his torso until he dipped his head beneath the sheets and between Jack's thighs. Sparrow groaned and gripped the bedpost, feeling the other man slide his hot tongue across him before taking him into his mouth. "Nnnh...! Will...Oh God, Will....!"  
Jack soon forgot what he wanted to say, which was to Turner's preference. He hoped to keep Sparrow close and distracted, blinding him with physical attention that he knew Jack was helpless against. If all Jack knew was his body, then he wouldn't be able to see what was in his head. "I'll make you forget, Jack," he gasped coming up for air long enough to lick his fingers before pushing them into the other man unexpectedly and hearing him gasp in response, "I'll make you forget everything."

 

***

 

Barbossa was brought him own restless sleep by the sound of boot falls across the deck around him. Realizing he had fallen asleep on deck, he tipped up the edge of his hat, allowing the blinding white light of this otherwordly sky strike him and make him wince. There was a weight upon his chest, and looking down he saw that Elizabeth had fallen asleep on him, still curled inside his coat. It was a strange, but not unpleasant surprise. He brushed her stringy golden hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. She blinked up at him, obviously surprised to find herself there as well. "Good mornin, Miss Swann," he said, smile playing across his lips below the line of his mustache.  
"Good morning...Hector." They both sat up, looking about to see the crew already at their duties. The door of the captain's quarters remained closed. Jack and Will had not emerged yet. "Seems we have just enough time to get our story straight." Barbossa nodded, cracking his back and his neck, which were sore and stiff from sleeping up right. "Are ye sure ye want to go through with it?"  
"Absolutely." Elizabeth answered, handing him back his coat. Her face had that familiar look of resolve that he had so come to respect in her. "Remind me, my dear, never to cross you again. Yer a formidable foe when the mood strikes ye right."  
"I take that as the greatest compliment." she nodded to him before fixing her hair as best she could, twisting it into a ponytail and smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothing and extending her hand to him. Barbossa took it with a chuckle. Today was going to be...interesting.

 

Will emerged from the cabin first, bleary eyed and admittedly a bit sore himself. He'd spent several hours last night keeping Jack blissfully occupied until the good captain had satisfied them both and fallen into a sleep so deep Will could not rouse him for anything. It was just as well, although he dearly hoped he wouldn't have to do that every night. Soon he wouldn't be able to stand.  
He caught sight of Elizabeth striding across the deck towards him then and he cringed a little. Now was not the best time for this encounter. Still, the fact that she was approaching him gave him a glimmer of hope that she might still forgive him. "Good morning, Elizabeth," he said warmly, expecting her to walk into his arms. She gave him a cold smile and passed him briskly. "Good morning, Mr. Turner."  
"Mr. Turner...?" he blinked, staring after her for a moment before scrambling to follow her up to the helm. "What do you mean by that?"  
"Well, seeing as how you've obviously made your decision, I didn't think it would be proper to call you Will." she replied in the same bright but cold brisk tones. The blacksmith eyed her curiously, not understanding. "What decision?"  
She looked him over with a glare, tugging at his rumpled clothing. "You slept with Jack last night. I can smell him on you."  
Will's cheeks turned red for a moment and he straightened himself as best he could, wishing he had a clean shirt to wear. "That's ridiculous."  
"Is it?"  
She turned away, hair whipping behind her. He followed after her, helpless against himself. "And where exactly did you sleep last night?" Elizabeth smiled before turning to look at him again. "What business is it of yours?"  
"You're my fiancee!" he exclaimed.  
"Oh really? Now I'm your fiancee, when it very well suits you." She held her head high. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you, William, that there is another." The other man cocked his head, feeling as though he had misheard her somehow. "Another what?"  
"Another man!" She exclaimed, exasperated with his lack of perception. At this declaration however, he scoffed, laughing aloud. "Who?" he demanded.  
"Me." Hector appeared at the foot of the stairs, grinning up at the two of them. Elizabeth hurried to him, putting her arms around him and leaning against his chest as Barbossa put an arm around her waist, letting his fingers play along her hip. Will, along with any near by crew, stared at the odd sight. Mr. Gibbs, who had been silently standing there the whole time during the lover's exchange, looked at his flask and shook his head. Surely the rum had gone bad.  
Will moved a bit closer. "You?" he scoffed. "You're joking."  
"Afraid not, young Turner." Barbossa said smoothly. "I held my tongue at the request of the lady. She did not want to break it to ye until the right time." he nodded, enjoying the growing look of confusion on Will's face.  
"Yes," Elizabeth replied. "It all began quite accidentally...that night we spent together in the cabin in the cold." she said suggestively, going so far as to toy with Barbossa's golden pendant as it dangled over the exposed bit of his chest. "I know that you think of Captain Barbossa as a brute and cad but...he's really quite the gentleman. Cultured; a man of refined tastes."  
"And I suppose you discussed literature then over tea?" Will scoffed, knowing the whole idea was completely incredulous but somehow growing more and more concerned. "Hector has seen the world, William. He has experience that a mere blacksmith from Port Royal could never hope to measure up to. And...as a woman...I have needs." She blushed a little as she said this, hoping to maintain her composure. For added affect, Barbossa let his hand slide down her thigh, grabbing the hem of her robe and running his fingers along the legging beneath.  
They thought Will's eyes would fall out of his head. "Elizabeth...!" he breathed, moving hurriedly towards her as she turned to greet him but not breaking her contact with the pirate, who now held her at the waist. "I thought you were saving yourself, for our wedding night!?"  
"Well, that isn't going to happen now is it?" she retorted, looking as though she might tear up again. "Besides, it's not as if you saved yourself for me." she added bitterly. The rest of the observing crew gawked at this accusation and Will couldn't muster the words to deny it. Barbossa spoke again, giving Elizabeth a moment to compose herself; "Ye've made yer bed now, boy. Elizabeth's made her choice. The right thing to do would be to bow out graciously."  
It would be a lie say that he wasn't enjoying each little twitch that came across William Turner's face then, as it was readily deserved. "I don't believe you!" he spouted then, slamming his fist furiously across the rail. "It's a lie!"  
"What's a lie?" Jack emerged suddenly from his cabin, looking more himself, though tired and obviously curious. "What's going on here?" He paused a moment looking over situation, seeing Barbossa with his hands suggestively upon lovely Elizabeth, who was clinging to him return as she glared at Will, and young Turner looked abashed and infuriated.  
"This doesn't concern you, Jack." Hector said then, extracting himself only briefly from Miss Swann. "This be between myself, Elizabeth and Turner here."  
Will looked at Jack, expecting him to take his side in the matter and to prove that this sudden declaration of love between his fiancee and the captain was completely false. Jack, of course, was not fooled for a moment by the scene. He picked up on Barbossa's plan quickly, and commended Elizabeth for having the nerve to fawn over the old bastard the way she was. "Very well then. Carry on." He turned and made to go about his business, Will looking frantically between him and the other two. "What do you mean, 'carry on'?!" he sputtered, finally chasing after the tan skinned captain and leaving the other couple to their own devices. "Say something!"  
Jack toyed with the beads that hung along his cheek, twisting them between his fingers. "I can't see as it's any of our business what they do, darlin'. I know it must be...difficult, to see that Elizabeth has made a regrettable choice in...suitors, but that mistake is hers to make."  
Will was helpless. If he were to admit that he still loved Elizabeth, surely he would loose Jack. And just now keeping the captain near and dear was simply too important to his plan. He couldn't risk causing a rift between them. "But...Barbossa is...isn't he...?" He made an awkward gesture with his hands in hopes to symbolize homosexuality. Jack repressed a smirk at his attempt and replied; "What? Catholic? I've never asked."  
"Dammit Jack, you know what I mean!"  
Of course he did, but seeing Will squirm this way, obviously taking the whole thing so seriously was a little too delicious to pass up. It'd been far too long since he'd had a good laugh. And besides, he'd work it out sooner or later that Elizabeth was just trying to get a rise out of him. "People change, William. People change."

 

***

 

The day went on and the Pearl continued her silent ascent across the unnatural waters below. What little wind they had encountered at their first departure had died utterly, and with it any sense of decorum among the crew.  
Will was sulking below deck, and Elizabeth was occupied elsewhere, for she had just as many duties as the rest of the crew and went about them with the same vigor and pride. Jack walked the deck, seeking out the other half of this interesting little conspiracy to muddle the mind of William Turner. He found him at the quarterdeck, scrubbing himself.  
Sparrow was surprised to see his old shipmate in this manner. Hector had removed all but his breeches, and was dumping a bucket of admittedly cold water over his head, trying to wash off some of the dust and accumulated grime and sweat. He may have aged, but he was still strong at his core. Lean and muscled with the same strong arms he remembered from their youth. Dripping, Barbossa glanced behind him and caught Jack looking at him. "Something I can do ya for, Captain Sparrow?" he smirked. Jack shook himself from his daze and stepped forward again. "What are you doing?"  
"Bathing. Or have you forgotten what that's like?" the redhead grinned, shaking the water from his hair, which had once again to turned a rusty bronze in the damp and sunlight. Jack sneered at the mockery, leaning against the rail as he watched Hector continue to scrub himself. "Pretending you're in love with Elizabeth. That's a stretch, mate. A real stretch."  
"I find the lass to be pleasurable company, for your information. Besides, it doesn't matter to me what you believe. So long as it's got Turner's guts twisting and his brain bleeding." he answered, wringing water out of his discarded bandana.  
"Well, I believe you've accomplished that end well enough." he nodded. "So, was this little ruse your idea or Elizabeth's?"  
"Why should I be tellin' ya that?"  
"Just trying to figure which one of us you're trying to make jealous." He said, a little smile playing over his own lips. Hector felt his pulse quicken a little, and he concentrated on airing out his clothes and scrubbing his boots now that he himself was clean. "Are ye jealous, Jack?"  
He didn't really expect an answer, but the other pirate surprised him then by kneeling down next to him on the deck and lifting his chin. "I believe jealousy was always your department, luv." He winked at him and stood up again, striding off. "It's my turn at the wheel! So you just go about your business of wooing your saucy wench. Ta-ta!"  
Barbossa looked after him for a long while, watching the sway of his hips as we walked and then realized he'd stared a bit too long and was now in a rather uncomfortable position. He was about to head below deck and take care of it, when suddenly Elizabeth came racing towards him, Will hot on her heels. "Hector! Oh Hector darling!"  
She rushed him, "Just play along," she whispered quickly, coming to stand in front of him, not seeming to notice that he was mostly undressed, wet and painfully hard. "Elizabeth, I think now's not the time...!"  
But it was too late. She put her arms around him and leaned up and kissed his cheek, hoping that it would look like she was kissing his lips, and at once felt him against her thigh. "Oh!"  
"I tried to warn ya!" he hissed. But Will was suddenly behind her. "Unhand her!"  
"Ah well, no point in wastin' an opportunity," he muttered to himself, looking proudly up at Turner, who seemed just as shocked as Jack had been at his physique. "This be no concern of yours," he answered. "Best turn around if ye don't want to see what ye be missing." He grinned.  
Will sputtered for a response, casting about for help but no one seemed willing to put themselves in the middle. "This indecent! Out here! In the middle of the ship for all to see?!"  
"I be captain of this ship–!"  
"Co-captain!" Jack yelled from somewhere beyond.  
"Shut up Sparrow! No one's talkin' to you!" he bellowed back.  
"Hector's not ashamed to show his affections for me," Elizabeth replied, bringing them back to the present. She gave Barbossa what she hoped was a sultry look and he complied by twisting his fingers through her hair, "Now we don't have to hide our affair."  
"There is no affair! You're leading me on!"  
"Ye think so, do ya?" Barbossa made a bold move then, grabbing the front of Elizabeth's shirt and yanking it open, exposing the tops of her breasts above the corset she'd been wearing, before lifting her up against him, pulling one of her legs behind him and leaning her back to kiss her neck.  
Somewhere further down deck there was the familiar sound of Ragetti's wooden eye hitting the deck. "Oy! Come back here!"  
"Mother of Mercy..." Gibbs gasped from somewhere behind them, where both he and Jack were observing with wide eyes and barely restrained laughter. Jack raised his bottle of rum. "Good man, Hector! Didn't know you knew how bust a corset like that!" the pirate giggled.  
Will saw an opportunity to level the playing field then and stormed towards Jack, knocking the bottle of rum from his hand and dragging him into a rough kiss that seemed to come from his whole body. Jack groaned into it, helpless to extract himself. Not that he wanted to, exactly. Both Barbossa and Elizabeth turned a bit red. "Hector, why don't you tell them about our first night together? How you seduced me into your bed?"  
Barbossa was glaring so hard at Turner it seemed likely that a burning hole would soon appear in his skull, but he remembered himself quickly and nodded; "Aye! Shall I tell your beau how you undressed yerself for me, and how I explored every little curve and line of your body with hands and tongue until ye cried out for me to take ya?"  
Elizabeth blushed hot red, and suddenly noticed that more of the crew had gathered around to watch the exchange. "This is the best ship ever..." Pintel whispered from below. "I know, I never want to leave!"  
Will sputtered, scarlet with rage even as he clung to Jack. "That's disgusting!"  
"Oh it's disgusting now, is it?" Sparrow quipped. "You didn't think so last night..."  
Gibbs shuddered and covered his face with his hand and Jack grimaced in apology, patting his shoulder. "Sorry, mate."  
"Why is it disgusting?!" Elizabeth retorted sharply, still standing there with her shirt wide and hardly more than that covering her. "You think it disgusting that someone would want to express their feelings for me in such a intimate way? There's no shame in that, William! You certainly don't think it shameful with Jack! Is it simply because I'm a woman? I'm supposed to be chaste and pure, but you can go about with whom ever you like, is that it?!"  
She seemed likely to fly at him then, but her assumed lover felt the need to add another nail in Will's coffin; "I was learnin' the arts of seduction before you were even a seed in your mother's womb, Turner. Have ye ever even been with a woman?"  
All eyes were Will at that point, watching him struggle for some response. He looked desperately to Sparrow. "Jack! Say something!"  
The tawny skinned pirate just shook his head however. "Oh no! No, thank you. I'm quite done with this little competition, thank you very much." He strode past them, "You're incorrigible," he nodded to William, "You should be ashamed," he nodded to Elizabeth, who did her best to cover herself, "And Hector..."  
Barbossa stared him down and Jack shook his finger at him. "You're just sick, mate. Just sick."

 

The day traveled on in this manner, and while the "couples" kept their distance from one another, their provocation didn't end. Hector was bent over the charts, looking for their next destination along this weird and unsettling plain, when he glanced up and saw that Will had pinned Jack to the mast and was proceeding to explore the inside of his mouth with his tongue. The pirate felt a little piece of the bamboo chart snap under his fist. "Elizabeth, my love!" he called loud enough for Jack and Will to over hear. He sat back on the bench as she sauntered over to him and pulled her into his lap. She giggled and twisted his beard in her fingers. "Hector, you're such a tease!"

Away from the two dueling pairs, Gibbs approached the lady Tia Dalma as she cast her gaze out to the sea. "Things be getting a might tense around here," the old sailor noted. "I've a bad feeling it's going to come to an ugly head here soon."  
"Ye be right, Master Gibbs," the woman replied, fiddling with the silver crab-shaped locket around her neck. "Toyin' with one's heart leads to dangerous consequences."  
"Can ye do nothing to stop it?"  
She shook her head. "It not be in my power to make men see wot dey don't want ta see." she answered, her eyes flickering towards William and Jack.

 

***

 

By nightfall, both parties seemed well fed up with each other. Hector announced, rather loudly, that he and Elizabeth were going to take the cabin for the night, forcing Jack to sleep below in the crew's quarters with Will. There was little protest in this matter, for by this time their energy had been spent, and no one was truly in the mood to provoke another row.  
"Well," Elizabeth breathed once behind the safety of closed doors once again. "This doesn't seem to be going as planned."  
"Isn't it?" Barbossa asked tiredly. He still could not quite look at the woman after their earlier mishap, and he was glad for a moment of peace where he did not have to pretend to be as lusty and insatiable as a young sailor fresh to port after a long journey. It was all exhausting. "Your young beau certainly seems fired up." He still cringed every time he had a mental flash of Will and Jack tangled together or fawning over one another on deck. Barbossa thought that with time and age came wisdom, and that he would not fall into the same traps he had as a younger man. But seeing Jack and Will together was all too much like those last days aboard the Pearl when the truth about Jack's affair with Bootstrap Bill had come to light. And this Turner seemed worse than the last. Bootstrap may have been subtly devious, but he was far from ruthless, and Will was proving that he could play that hand as well as any dirty dealing pirate in the Caspian Sea.  
"Yes, but...he's too stubborn to admit it." She pouted. She fell down upon the bed with a plop, kicking off her shoes as he undressed himself as well. "I feel like this is my fault. If I hadn't left Jack aboard his ship..."  
"Then none of us would be alive to be playin' these games, so don't bemoan your fortunes, my dear." He reminded her. She nodded, rubbing her temples before exhaling loudly. "I'm not going to think of it anymore tonight."  
"Put it from your mind, yes."  
She looked about awkwardly then, and he sighed. "What is it?"  
"I've nothing to change into." She tugged at her clothes, which were loosely mended from their tearing earlier. "These are already stiff with salt and sweat...I can't bear to wear them another night." She tugged them off in a hurry, much to Barbossa's shock; "What are ye doing!?" he gasped, turning away quickly and covering his eyes.  
"I'm undressing." she blinked.  
"Aye, but...ye be naked."  
"Well, yes." she giggled. "Surely you've seen it all before." she added, surprised at his sudden modesty. "More times than I care to count. Doesn't mean I care to have it flouted about me." If she could have seen his face she would have noted how red it was. He pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to her to wear as a nightgown. "Somewhere under that black pirate heart of yours really is a true gentleman, Captain Barbossa." she mused.  
"Yes well...don't go spreading it about." He muttered. He settled down in the high back chair, trying to get comfortable. The young woman let down her hair as she crawled into bed, doing her best to comb out the knots and tangles in it. "Aren't you coming?"  
He peered over at her through one thinly slitted eyelid, "Beg pardon?"  
"You can't sleep in that chair all night again. The bed's plenty big enough for two." He shook his head. "No, behind these doors Ms. Swann, our little game ends."  
"I'll sleep on the floor then."  
Hector sat up quickly. "I'm not about to let a woman sleep on the floor. Take the bed!"  
She glanced towards the doors. "It wouldn't do for our um...image to be seen sleeping apart." The man finally gave up then; after all he was sore and stiff and a good nights sleep just might help him clear his head. "Fine," he muttered. He grabbed a pillow from one of the chairs and stuffed it hurriedly between himself and the girl, something to provide a barrier. Elizabeth giggled again and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek once more. "You'd best stop that, girl. I may get to like it."  
"Good night." She turned over on her side, his shirt falling across her thin frame like a billowing sheet and was soon asleep. Hector settled in too best he could, with little Jack scurrying down from the ceiling rafters to curl between the two. He drifted uneasily for a time, but could find no real rest here. Finally in frustration he lifted himself from the bed, wrapped Elizabeth in the sheets and found his boots and waistcoat before taking to the deck. He was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that there was still no real wind and that the eerie fog of the night before had returned.  
Climbing the steps to the quarterdeck, he nodded to the helms men and made his way to the farthest rail. He found it occupied however, but the very man that was keeping him awake. Sparrow was dressed down too, wearing just his shirt and pants, and suitably barefoot. Aside from the ever growing mass of raven hair in a tangle of dreads and braids, he looked in that moment the striking image of his youth. Hector almost turned and walked away, but Jack caught sight of him. "Couldn't sleep either, eh?"  
The other pirate smiled and shook his head. "No. Too restless."  
"Really? I thought all that raucous love making with Elizabeth would have suitably worn you out." the tan skin man chuckled at his expense. "Well, I admit it is odd to find you without the whelp suitably attached to your front," his shipmate countered. "I was half expecting for him tear open your breeches and suck ya off right here in the middle of the deck this afternoon."  
Jack cringed a little. "Yes well...while William may be carrying it all a bit far, it is nice to have someone who's not afraid to show their feelings for you." he added carefully, giving Barbossa a sly look out of the corner of his eye.  
"There be a time and place for such things." Hector muttered.  
"Like behind closed doors and in seedy ports where no one knows your name?"  
Barbossa sighed, leaning upon the rail gazing out into the dark water. "Come on, Jack. Is this really what you want to talk about?"  
"It's just nice to talk about anything, really," the other captain admitted. He glanced at the other captain's attire and pinched a bit of the old bronze colored fabric between his fingers. "It still fits you." In this little observation, Barbossa made one of his own. He saw the light from one of the lanterns flicker off the jade stone upon Jack's hand. He captured the pirate's palm in his, staring at it. "You kept it."  
"Of course I did." Sparrow scoffed. He twisted it around his knuckle, eyeing it sentimentally. "Never could seem to part with the thing. Silly, really...it would have fetched a nice price." He chanced another look at Barbossa's face and found the other man to be looking back at him so intensely that he almost forgot to breathe. "I think I know why you kept it."  
"Do you?"  
Hector still hadn't let go of his hand. Jack felt his pulse quicken, staring into Hector's face. He knew what the other man wanted but was almost afraid to let it happen. Barbossa leaned in a little closer and Jack didn't pull away.

Below on the main deck, Will had emerged from below looking for his missing bunkmate. When he reached the stairs he saw Jack and Barbossa standing together at the stern and quickly ducked from sight, watching. They were standing a bit too close, the old pirate's hand in Jack's. He couldn't quite hear what they were saying but it was in soft tones. Will began to panic. He couldn't loose Jack now, he needed him too badly. And in thinking this he felt a new stab of guilt. Even from this vantage point, he could see the look on Jack's face, which was so hopeful. Maybe he really did still care for Barbossa, after all this time. And here he was, stringing the man along for his own selfish reasons. Not to mention how he was hurting Elizabeth in the process.  
How had it come to this? He barely recognized himself. He almost walked away, but the thought of his lonely and forsaken father made him turn again. He was about to give a shout, when someone else did it for him.  
"Ghosts!"  
All three men turned their attentions towards the bow of the ship where the cry had come from. "That sounded like Ragetti." Barbossa said. "What's he on about...?"  
Jack grabbed his arm and pointed to the sea below. "I believe that's it."  
A glance upon the water showed the sight of pale waifs floating below the surface; lost souls bemoaning their misfortune. "Will?" Jack's voice turned Barbossa's attention and he turned to see that young Turner had been just below them the whole time, clearly spying. The rest of the crew were stirring now, coming to see what the commotion was, and the moment between the two captains was forgotten. For the moment.

 

***

 

The day after passing through the sea of lost souls, was bleak and morose. There was not a breath of wind anywhere, and the crew began to realize the very real chance they had of being trapped between the world of the living and the world of the dead for the rest of their days. The petty games of jealousy that had been played were all but forgotten now.  
Elizabeth sat sullenly upon the stairs, arms wrapped around herself. She had seen her father pass through those waters. It would have been a shock to anyone, but for the young woman it seemed a crushing blow. Will watched after her, his former cruelty and indifference forgotten. He returned to himself, hovering at her side, all other motives aside.  
Barbossa paced the deck, the weight of their dire situation weighing upon him, as Jack labored over the map. " 'Over the edge'...it's driving me over the bloomin' edge! Sun rises don't set...!" He muttered to himself irritably. He cast his gaze towards Jack, who seemed to be talking to himself. Obviously a bit of that madness lingered. But he couldn't trouble himself with it now. In his pacing he caught sight of Turner watching him from below. He'd said nothing to the boy since the night before, and had no plans to either. But there was a strange, challenging look in Turner's eye that made him feel ill at ease. He had no sooner resumed pacing when Jack suddenly leapt up. "That's it!"  
He, along with the rest of the crew, watched as Jack madly dashed from one end of the ship to the next, shrieking at some unseen object of terror and interest. And blindly, they began to follow him, trying to see the trouble. Hector watched all this with growing curiosity as he bent over the map Jack had been previously examining. Ragetti's eye, which had escaped him again, went rolling across the shifting table and he plucked it up, wetting it before sticking it back into his eye socket and giving him a warning look not to loose it again. It was then he noticed that Jack had turned the most inner circle of the map depicting the ship upside down. And upon one of the circles it read clearly; "Up is Down".  
"We're rocking the ship!" Gibbs called from below.  
Barbossa looked up with a mad grin. "Aye! He's on to it!"  
"He's rocking the ship!"  
While Jack lead the crew back and forth across the deck, feeling the hefty sway of the Pearl beneath them in result, Barbossa ducked below, rousing all those below. "On yer feet ye mangy bilge rats! Loose the canons! Untie the cargo! Let it shift!" He took up a hatchet and began cutting all lines that tied the weightiest objects in place. Men scurried top side to avoid being crushed by rolling canons and cannon balls and tumbling crates and barrels.  
The Black Pearl was nearly at full tilt when he climbed back upon deck and immediately fell into the running. Soon the vessel was swaying dangerously from left to right, threatening to overturn at any moment. Her crew thundered across her main deck, racing against the forces of tide and gravity as with each sway the floor beneath their feet wrenched skyward. They gripped the rails and rigging with all their might until finally she went completely upon her side. With a collective shout, the crew clung to this last chance for escape. Normally this would be a crewman's nightmare, for ounce a ship had overturned it was nigh impossible to right her again.  
It was not until his feet were dangling and all that stood between him and a watery death was a few inches of warped wood that Barbossa realized he was about to be dunked. He hung between Will and Elizabeth, with Jack and Gibbs on his far side. He shot his crew mate a fearful look that said he was suddenly having second thoughts.  
Too late. The water came rushing up to meet them as the Pearl gave a great groan and overturned completely, submerging them in the sea below. The impact came with such force that it rattled and shook them as they struggled to hold on. Clinging beside him, Will Turner saw Barbossa begin to struggle and made an impulsive and treacherous move.  
He swayed with the current into the other man, knocking him free from the rail. Hector's eyes bugged as he tried to regain his grip, but the swell was pulling him down. Will watched him, doing nothing to save him.  
But Jack saw too. Though Gibbs reached for him and tried to pull him back, Jack dove from his safe position and swam hurriedly towards the sinking pirate. Panic was settling in, causing Hector to expel the breath he'd been holding in. Now his lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. Through the bubbles created by his flailing limbs, he caught a glimpse of Jack barreling towards him like a shot. The other man got his arms around and kicked hard, making to grab for the rigging before it was too late.  
No sooner had Jack tangled his arm in the ropes to ensure he would not loose his grip, while the other arm remained securely around Hector, than the boat seemed propelled upwards, or the sea downwards, they couldn't be sure.  
In a great crashing roar, the Pearl was suddenly topside again, soaked from her sails down to her rudder and heavily laden with water. Sputtering and spitting, her crew gasped for air, struggling to right themselves and keep from being swept overboard with the rest of the remaining surf. Jack and Hector came crashing down from the rigging, falling painfully upon the deck. Sparrow lifted his smarting head, scrambling towards his former first mate, who had fallen on his face was not moving. "Hector! Hector!" To his relief when he rolled the other man over he was breathing on his own, however raggedly and struggling to sit. "Thankee Jack," he coughed as the other man patted him on the back, giving him a grin in a relief. "Still swimming like a bird, eh?" he chuckled, unable to say how frightened he'd been at the prospect of leaving him behind again.  
"Sunrise!" Elizabeth gasped, pointing off deck. They looked up and saw to great elation that it was a new dawn. They had escaped the other side, and returned to the world above. Jack helped Barbossa to his feet, "Pretty good team we make, eh?"  
Hector nodded, wet and sopping. "Aye, there be just one more matter to attend to." He pulled his pistol from his belt and aimed it firmly at William. "Ye tried to kill me."  
"What?" Elizabeth cried, standing next to her estranged fiancee as the rest of the crew stared. She expected Will to react in shock. Instead he pulled out his own pistol and pointed it back at the pirate. Jack in turned pulled out his own, his aim going from Will to Barbossa, and then to Elizabeth who also drew a weapon, though she seemed somewhat abashed that anyone would point it back at her. Gibbs added his own, ready to shoot Barbossa if he were to turn that pistol onto anyone else.  
"Will! Will, tell them it's not true," the girl urged, looking around her frantically. Will ignored her however, leering between Barbossa and Jack. "He's using you, Jack," he said thickly, his voice containing a surprising waver to it. "All he cares about is the Brethern Court. Once he's achieved his ends he'll kill you where you stand!"  
"Aye, and what is it you care about, Mr. Turner?" Barbossa snarled back. "Jack and I be going to Shipwreck Cove, there be no arguin' that!"  
At this Jack looked a bit uncertain. "I never said I would go with you," he replied, much to Barbossa's surprise. "If pirates are gathering, I'm turning my ship the other way."  
"It be my ship as well, and I say you're going!"  
"You can't abandon them to Beckett, Jack, they need you," Elizabeth added then, for she too was for the gathering of the pirate lords and had been from the start.  
"He can make his own choices!" Will cut in sharply, and Jack smiled a little in response. "Yes, I can." He pointed his gun back at Hector. Elizabeth turned her own away, half pointing it at Will, which was a shock to all, "Well you've clearly made yours."  
Now young Turner faltered, realizing the snare he'd entered into. "Why does it matter to you if we enter Shipwreck Cove? What's this all about, Will?" He stared at her pleadingly. He didn't have an answer. At least, not one he could give.  
"Aye, I'd like to know that as well." Barbossa added, trying to move forward though Jack held him back. Sparrow looked sternly to the young man he'd taken as his lover; "William...?"  
"LAND HO!"  
The cry made them all temporarily forget their stalemate, turning towards the rail. Sure enough, a few short miles off the starboard bow loomed a small but lush island. The group dubiously lowered their firearms, half knowing they would never fire a shot now anyway, soaked as they were. "Truce?" Jack quired, looking between all them. Barbossa and Will exchanged dangerous looks, but turned aside. Jack smiled. "There we are, all friends again! Just what I like to see..."  
He turned to Gibbs, who gave him an exasperated look. "It be exhausting being one of your crew, Captain, I don't mind tell ya."  
"Perfectly understandable. My apologizes." He put his arm around his shoulder. "Keep an eye on dear William, won't you?"  
"Aye, sir. Two eyes at all times."

 

***

 

It was decided, since neither captain felt precisely comfortable with leaving the other alone upon the Black Pearl whilst the other took a landing party ashore, that William would stay behind with Elizabeth and the others, and Jack, Barbossa, Ragetti and Pintel would take a small party and resupply. Though Barbossa objected to the idea of Will being left to his own devices, Jack seemed to still blindly trust the boy. Even after his latest treachery. What was this hold Turner had on him? Was it hopeless to think he could break it?  
All these thoughts were swirling in his mind as the road the crest of the waves to black sand beach before them, and found there an ill omen of the terrible events that had transpired in their absence. Washed upon shore, it's giant and once deadly tentacles now naught by lumps of lifeless tissue to provide food for the birds, was the remains of the Kraken.  
Ragetti and Pintel charged it, cackling and cheering at the sight of the defeated thing that had almost claimed their lives. Their conquest over the dead sea legend was a foil to the melancholy upon Jack's face as he viewed it's sad remains. Barbossa too, felt a sort of reverence for the deceased thing. The world seemed emptier, knowing it was no longer in it. Another legend destroyed by the coming "modern" age.  
"Still thinking of runnin', Jack?" Barbossa asked as he came up along the still pirate who was before him. Jack Sparrow gazed sadly at the Kraken's rotting remains, seeing himself reflected in it's giant eye. "You think you can out run the world?"  
Still Jack said nothing. Barbossa came close to him, so that he stood at his shoulder. His companion's sunken expression remained unchanged. "You see, the problem with being the last of anything," Hector spoke, "is that by and by there be none at all."  
At this Jack turned to look him in the eye and his expression softened a bit. He looked almost hopeful. "Sometimes things come back, mate." he replied. "We're livin' proof, you and me." he said gesturing between the two of them.  
"Are we?" Hector asked. Something unspoken passed between them then, and both looked away, mulling over the question that hung in the air. Jack looked a little while longer at the remains then turned, moving off towards the dense jungle beyond. "Lets you and I take a walk, mate."  
"Alone?"  
Jack glanced back at the landing party who were making their along the sand to collect water and what ever fresh edible food they could find. Pintel and Ragetti were suitably occupied. "Aye, alone." Hector nodded and followed.

They explored for a time in silence. The island foliage was dense and heavy, but sailors had passed this way before, for their were still lingering trails to follow among the brush. Jack kept slightly ahead, and Barbossa let him have his silence, watching him closely. A declaration was burning inside him, but he almost didn't dare speak it.  
"Is William right?" Jack asked then suddenly, without preamble, stopping to look at him once they'd reached a small hill top that gave way to a fresh water stream below. Barbossa cocked an eyebrow, "Right about what?"  
"That ounce we reach the Brethern Court and you've proposed your brilliant little idea to release the rather vengeful sea goddess Calypso–brilliant, again, I must say–," he mocked him. "–that you're going to finish what you started back at Isle de Mureta?"  
Hector cursed in frustration, looking away. "If I ever hear that cursed name again..." he muttered. "If I had wanted ye dead, Sparrow, why exactly would I have gone through all this trouble to drag ya back from the hell you were already in?"  
"My question exactly." Jack countered, rocking on his heels a little, hands gesturing about in his usual eccentric fashion. "So tell me, what are your intentions? For me and the Pearl?" Sparrow was standing just a little too close, looking at him with those big brown eyes, full of questions and uncertainties. Finally, Hector broke. He grabbed the smaller man by both shoulders, pushing him against the trunk of a twisting tree overlooking the ledge. For a moment, Jack felt certain he was going to be hurled from it to the ground below. "I mean to have ya both!"  
Before Jack could say anything else, Barbossa had leaned in, his lips crashing against his and pulling him into a heated kiss. Jack instantly forget everything. It was if almost fifteen years of hate and pain and suffering were washed away in that one perfect moment. He put his arms around Barbossa and drew him in closer, the rough bark of the tree scratching his skin, but he didn't care.  
But the moment was fleeting. Barbossa pulled away, still holding the younger pirate close to him. "I love you, Jack. I always have." he confessed, feeling the weight of it finally lift from his chest. "Come back to me."  
Jack's face showed a miarad of emotion; relief, compassion, and confusion being just a few. He put his hands against the sides of Hector's face, tilting back his hat a little. "I thought I was the mad one," he said with a sad little smile.  
"You don't believe me?"  
Sparrow tried to pull free and give himself room to breathe and think. "Hector, you mutinied against me! You left me to die! And then when I finally catch up with you and my stolen ship, you maroon me AGAIN! Never mind the battle in the caves when you ran me through!"  
"You were holdin' a stolen coin! I knew it wouldn't kill you..."  
"You certainly didn't seem so sure at the time." Jack muttered, finally wriggling out of his arms and making his way down the steep ledge, as though fleeing the other man. But Hector was right at his heels. "You want me to say that I was a traitor? A murdering, backstabbing bastard? Aye, I was!"  
"Exactly!"  
"And I paid dearly for those mistakes, didn't I?" He added, and Jack cringed, remembering their final moments together in the cave. "You shot me dead, Jack. You killed me. How much more can you punish me?"  
Sparrow stopped, seeming to wrestle with himself. "I cried for you, you know." he admitted. "A little part of me died with you." He grit his teeth and turned on him then, "You were my everything once. And you threw it all back at me the moment you had a chance for power! You showed your true colors then, didn't you?"  
"What choice did you leave me?" Barbossa retorted, guesturing wildly. "Ye cast me aside! Ye said you loved me, but here I find ye rolling in the sheets with that good for nothing Bootstrap! How long was that little affair going on, Jack? How many nights did ye share a bed with me and then went ta him!"  
"Never!" Jack replied. "At least...not until you and I were already over."  
"Well if we were over it would have been nice for you to inform me of it!" Barbossa barked. "You betrayed me!"  
Jack pulled at his hair and screamed in frustration. "AHH! I don't want to argue this anymore! I've wasted enough of my life on it!" Barbossa looked desperate, defeated. "It's all that damn woman's fault..." he muttered, sinking down onto a fallen trunk, throwing his sword aside in his frustration. "Why'd she choose me?"  
"Woman? What woman?"  
"Tia Dalma," he sighed. "I never told ye...that night we went into the swamps to visit her. She revealed a prophecy to me. One concerning you and I and the Black Pearl." Now here was a story Jack had not heard before. He paused, staring down at the man. "What?"  
"She told me, I'd betray you." he nodded. "The nightmares I was having...they were all of your death. And I was responsible each time." He covered his face with his hand. "I tried to keep us from that path. I tried so hard! In my efforts...I pushed you away instead. Right into the arms of Bill Turner."  
The weight of his words hung in the humid jungle air, and Jack could do nothing but stare for a moment as it all came together in his head. "Then...you did love me." he said softly. Hector looked up at him sadly. "Aye. I never stopped. I was trying to protect you from what I was to become. Instead..."  
Jack's reality seemed to bend and twist in front of him. "Oh no..." He dropped down on the dead tree next to the other pirate, realizing his own role in the death of their relationship. "Then Bill and I..." He gave Barbossa a remorseful look. "No wonder you were so angry."  
"Catching on, are ya?" Hector pulled off his hat and dropped it to the ground, rubbing the back of his sweat-slick neck in the heat. "We be a right couple of jealous fools, aren't we Jack?" The tan skinned pirate next to him nodded dumbly. "It's bloody awful." He looked at his shipmate. "I mean...look at us. Look at what we've done to each other." He gestured between them, then his eyes grew even sadder. "Oh God...poor William."  
"Which one?"  
"Both."  
"Aye." Hector nodded. "For Bootstrap, I don't expect to be forgiven."  
"Good, because you aren't."  
"Then again...you can't punish a man for a crime he didn't commit."  
Jack boogled. "Pardon?"  
"You blame me for murdering Bill. But he's not dead." No, Bill wasn't dead. He was something worse than dead, and they both knew it. A silence passed between them again, and Hector figured that he would have to accept Jack's rejection and try to move on with his life. But Jack moved suddenly, lifting the compass from his side and opening it. "What are ya doin?"  
Jack shushed him, staring at the wavering needle. "Clarity, mate." It spun in a steady circle for a time, then began to slow, the head pointing to Jack's right. To Barbossa.  
"Hector, I–,"  
"CAPTAIN!"  
Both jolted with the sudden shout and looked up from their resting place. They could see Marty sprinting fast as he could, just ahead of Ragetti. Both pirates drew their swords, ready for attack. But all they saw behind the fleeing pair was the rest of their landing party. Barbossa figured it out first. He brandished his cutlass with a curse, pushing Jack behind. "We're betrayed!"  
"What, by whom?"  
"No time, run!" He said, waving him off. But Jack didn't budge, drawing his own sword and pistol. "I'm with you, mate." Hector smiled at him for a moment before turning to cross swords with the attacking throng of Singapore pirates whom had betrayed them. Three or four fell beneath their swords, but their guns were still rendered useless by their wet powder, and soon they found themselves overwhelmed. Defeated, they were forced to the ground and their hands bound. "I should have known...never trust a man from Singapore," Hector grunted as he was dragged to his feet.  
"Parlay?" Jack offered. The conquering pirates laughed in response.


End file.
